On Monday 28th November, 12 children represented North Lakes School in a Tri-golf competition at Penrith Leisure Centre. The Eden Valley Sports Partnership, along with Appleby and Penrith Golf Clubs invited us to attend the Year 3&4 and Year 5&6 Tri-Golf competition. In preparation for the event, we had some Tri-Golf taster sessions in school with Penrith Golf Club professionals Andrew Sowerby and Tim Dykes.

The Tri-Golf sessions involved multiple games and practice sessions to develop the children’s putting, chipping and driving skills. The course was set up in advance and the equipment was provided for us. The children had to aim for targets, and gained points accordingly. It was a great way to introduce all of the children to the sport- many of whom had never played before.

The tournament was set up to create an opportunity to ask children to be leaders, explain the game, manage the scoring, and ensure everybody was playing in a positive spirit. On each of the games there was also a School Games Value score that the leader could award to the team, depending on their team work, respect and the team’s positive participation. I am pleased to report that both North Lakes School teams were awarded top marks for this!

We really enjoyed this opportunity and competing against other local schools in the tournament. Grace, one of the pupils who played,  said “It was fabulous to come together with other schools and have so much fun. I’d never played golf before and I was amazed at how easy it was to pick the game up. I’d definitely like to play again.”

I am pleased to report that the Year 3&4 team came first and the Year 5&6 team came third. Congratulations to both teams. It was a pleasure to take the children to this tournament and I hope that some of the children continue to participate in this fabulous sport.  We have some more sessions planned in school to work with Andrew and Tim in the Spring term.